Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Do you have to learn the Hard Way?

Why should people flee sexual immorality?  It is not simply a matter of religious guilt or moral repression, but rather of physical preservation.  The Bible clearly describes how a person who sins sexually sins against their own body.  They actually degrade their own bodies when they act out their sexual impurities.  The medical facts behind sexually transmitted diseases all attest to the veracity of what the Scripture says is true.  The physical consequences for sexually immoral behavior are real.  A summary of which is given below.

• Summary of How STD pathology fulfills God’s Biblical Curses

·         Gonorrhea symptoms normally begin with inflammation, painful urination, and pus discharges.  The term for the condition comes from two combined Greek words gonos (semen) and rhoia (means to flow) that together mean ‘unwanted semen flow.’ The name was coined for the characteristic discharges the disease causes.   Scar tissue formed from the extensive inflammation caused by this infection in the fallopian tubes or testicles can cause sterility.  Fertilized eggs that attach to this scarring in the fallopian tube can lead to an ecoptic pregnancy; a dangerous complication that can cause internal hemorrhaging and death.  As the infection spreads to the joint spaces, they can cause rash, toxemia, and arthritis.  Heart valves can become damaged as it migrates through the bloodstream. Recovery from the disease lowers overall immunity making reinfection possible.  Transmission from a mother to her baby’s eyes can occur while passing through an infected birth canal.  If left untreated, the infection can cause blindness in the newborn as described in the law; “…wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart…” (Lev 26:16)

·         Chlamydia infections mimic many of the symptoms of Gonorrhea.  The term comes from a Greek word meaning “cloak.”  Chlamydia may not exhibit any overt symptoms in most cases; signs may not show for years coming to be known as the silent epidemic.  Like Bacterial Vaginosis, Chlamydia can often cause a vaginal odor with a horrible fishy smell.  The odor being caused by the metabolic by-products of the bacteria that have over colonized and tipped the balance of the flora normally found there.  As it is written:  “…And the Lord will uncover their secret parts… instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench…” Isa 3:17-24

·         Syphilis was coined by Girolamo Fracastoro for the disease French soldiers contracted in Naples in 1494.  The term derives from the Greek myth of Syphilus who insulted the Greek God Apollo and was punished with a horrible disease.  The venereal disease Syphilis grows in a localized area leaving a red ulcer called a chancre in the initial stages; just as it is written “Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab…” (Isa 3:17).  As the disease migrates to the lymph nodes and blood stream, symptoms may include fever, runny nose, watery eyes, aches and pains, sore throat, and a rash on the palms and soles of your feet.  After initial stages, a latent period of dormancy ensues that can range from a few months to a lifetime.  During this time, no visible signs of the disease can be observed.   If allowed to remain untreated, the infection can damage blood vessels that can lead to heart rupture.  The spirochetes can also cause widespread damage to the brain and nervous system.   The wasting away of these systems can create severe back pain, cripple a patients muscle coordination, and even degenerate the mind into insanity.  All of these signs resemble what was described in God’s curse: “The Lord will make the plague cling to you…The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew…”  (Dt 28:21-22).  Babies that contract the disease from their mother often die before or shortly after birth.  The Babies that do survive contract the disease and suffer from it’s more long term effects.  All of this is exactly how the Bible relays it:  “No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception! Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them to the last man…give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts…” (Hos 9:10-14)

·         The Herpes Virus is incurable and has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks.  The Greek word for it means to ‘creep or to crawl’ describing how the lesions of the infection spread.  Ulcer breakouts can be very painful and long lasting.  Symptoms include intense burning and itching sensations.  Breakout Recurrence can occur anywhere from one to four times a year.  Over years of infection, the virus can cause cancer.  An infected person can transmit the disease to anyone they have sex with the rest of their life.  Babies infected by their mothers from the disease normally die from it.  Tiberius Ceasar attempted to mitigate the plague of Herpes by prohibiting public kissing.  This sounds very similar to God’s curse: “The Lord will strike you with boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.”  (Dt 28:27)

·         Genital Warts caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) are the most common STD.  Only a small percentage of virus carriers actually develop warts.  People can actually catch the virus by means other than intercourse.  Laser treatment or freezing can be used to remove the warts, but these measures do not eliminate the infection.  This virus likely plays an important contributing factor to the development of cervical cancer in women.  Anal cancers in homosexual men are also attributed to the HPV virus.  The virus is also suspected to play an important role in other types of cancer as well.  Some 20% of all the cancers that occur are attributed to viruses like HPV.

·         Crabs/Lice/Scabies infestations cause intense itching on affected areas due to the parasites biting or burrowing under the skin.  The itch is often worse at night and can make sleep impossible.  Treatments are available, but the CDC states that none of them are 100% effective.  Pubic lice are referred to as Crabs because of their appearance under a microscope.  Crabs lay eggs called nits.   The nits hatch into nymphs, grow into adults, and feed on blood to survive.  They leave tiny bite marks on the skin near the pubic region.  This is just another manner in how people can be plagued with the scab and the itch.

·         HIV virus that causes AIDS is also incurable.  The virus destroys the immune system leaving patients susceptible to any infection.  Symptoms vary widely according to the infections actually acquired.  They can consist of fever, headache, sore throat, muscle aches, rashes, pneumonia, meningitis, diarrhea, dementia, seizures, paralysis.  Many infected people can show no sign of symptoms for extended periods of time.  Certain malignant tumors associated with the virus are normally the first real indicator of infection.  The HIV virus does not ultimately kill a host but rather renders it defenseless to any other invading illness.  It’s all the other illnesses that will kill him just as the Scripture says:  “Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.” (Dt 28:61)

• The Emotional Consequences of living with an STD

There are emotional consequences to these diseases that take their toll on people as well. Do you want to have to face that special someone someday and say you have contracted an STD?  Do you want people to see you as dirty or damaged goods? Do you want to be treated as a disease rather than a human being? Would you want to live with the social stigma?  If you hide it, would you want to live with the guilt of giving it to the partner who loves you?  Would you want to be the brunt of their resentment for giving it to them?  People do cope with these diseases and their consequences.  Many find partners also with the disease through meet up groups for people infected with similar STDs.  Despite all their personal optimism for moving on, the point must be made that the disease clearly degrades their standard of life.  Avoiding it all together is always the better option.

• How the Actions of Some will really impact all of Society

In going after strange flesh, a person can actually defile or ruin themselves.  When the Aids virus first came on the American scene in the early nineteen eighties, the only carriers known to have the virus were gay men in San Francisco and chimpanzee primates.  I find this link disturbing.  One gay man having sex with a chimp from the zoo could very well be what caused the spread of this virus to the rest of the country.   The actions of a few people really can impact all of society.  A similar link has always been rumored between sheep and syphilis.  Why do these diseases spread to all of society?  Because lusting people eager to meet their own needs are only too ready to share the “love.”  Many infected men and women can be asymptomatic.  They may not even know they have it.  Drugs may suppress some of the symptoms and provide temporary relief, but they also prolong a carrier’s opportunity to spread the disease further.  Treatment not only increases prevalence but also increases the bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics.   The idea that medicine can somehow mitigate these effects altogether is wishful thinking and causes many to just be more careless.   Some venereal diseases may be suppressed with treatment, but they don’t really ever go away.

• How to prevent getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD)

Most Sexually transmitted Diseases (STDs) cannot survive long apart from the body; these diseases cling to their host as the Scripture says (Dt 28:60).  Only through direct contact can they be spread.  So transmission can be eliminated altogether by the simple measures of abstinence and monogamy with a clean partner.  Abstinence and Marriage also happen to be the only courses of action God sanctions.   Attempting to practice ‘safe sex’ is really gambling with your health.  The level of protection received from condoms is really mixed at best.  The use of oral contraception alters the pH and moisture content of the vagina making it more susceptible to infection.   Intercourse itself is not even always necessary to contract a disease.   It only takes one encounter.    One wrong step and you can pay for it the rest of your life.  Many people living with STDs report feeling stupid for contracting it; they regret not waiting for marriage before practicing sex.  Do you really have to learn the hard way?  God promises in his Word that if you keep his statutes, He will not put on you any of the diseases He brought on the Egyptians (Ex 15:26).  Heed his command and He will save you a lot of trouble.  Indulge in immoral sex and you will receive the penalty for your error (Rom 1:27).

• Conclusion: Listening to God will save you a lot of trouble

Many fail to appreciate how far ahead of it’s time God’s laws really were for keeping the Israelites healthy.  God knew the value of something as simple as washing your hands and avoiding bodily fluids.  Society only came to appreciate this in 1840 (when Dr.  Semmelweiss noticed how washing hands between delivering babies lowered the delivering mother’s rates of contracting sepsis).  Only after this discovery, did the world come to appreciate the value of personal hygiene.   This tells me that God knew what He was talking about long before men do.  When the black plague swept through Europe, many suspected the Jews were responsible for the illness; they thought this because no Jew ever contracted the disease.  The very incident sparked a Jewish persecution in Europe.  They did not understand how rats were spreading the plague and that observing kosher laws were protecting the Jews from it.  God’s laws can protect you even when you do not understand how.  Abstinence may leave you out of the party.  But when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases, who would not really want to be left out of that party?

Related Links:
Sexual Immorality: Cannot Drag to Heaven. Be Washed to be Saved.
Why Should I avoid Sexual Immorality?
Sexual Temptation:why fight the feeling? 
Lust, Love contrasts defined: One Worship, the Other Charity
Why Lust always turns Kinky and Perverted
Why Prohibit Sexual Immorality? Avoid Making Society a Desolation

References

Nester, Roberts, “Microbiology: a Human Perspective”

Britannica.com

en.m.wikipedia.org